Horace Barks, OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 was Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

 in 1951–1952.
Barks was born in the countryside near Stoke-on-Trent and came from a working class background. His experiences in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 left him with pacifist beliefs. He was a member of the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

, the dominant party in Stoke-on-Trent during the twentieth century, and was committed to Esperanto

Esperanto

is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...

.

Barks and his son were active in the Arnold Bennett Society

Arnold Bennett

- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...

. The reference library in the city is named after him.

Esperanto

Through Barks' influence "The Green Star", his local pub in Smallthorne

Smallthorne

Smallthorne is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is in the north-east of the city, near Burslem...

, Stoke-on-Trent, acquired a sign in Esperanto. "La Verda Stelo", to give the pub its Esperanto name, is mentioned in a poem by Raymond Schwartz

Raymond Schwartz

Raymond Schwartz , was a French banker and Esperanto author who wrote many poems and novels in Esperanto, as well as skits which he directed for Parisian Esperanto cabarets.-Biography:...

. Barks was involved with starting classes at the Wedgwood Memorial College

Wedgwood Memorial College

Wedgwood Memorial College is a small residential college in Barlaston, near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. The college is owned and operated by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, and is nationally important as a centre of Esperanto education....

 in Barlaston

Barlaston

Barlaston is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stafford in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is roughly halfway between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the small town of Stone. According to the 2001 census the population of the parish was 2,659.-History:The old parish church of...

, which remains an important centre of Esperanto education.